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Rotate the "Big Knob" counter-dextorotatory 11 degrees to the South

fredtr,

This need to lower gain seems to be extremely common, especially as CD players seem to have been endowed with enough output to drive power amplifiers without a preamp. When using the Cambridge Audio 640 CD player, especially with the 93dB Infinity Primus 360 speakers I was using in the office, the gain control on a 1985 Audio Research SP8 and a 1996 ARC LS3 line stage was never past 7:30-8:00. I tried Rothwell attenuators placed on preamp end of the interconnects, but I sensed a slight veiling of the sound and in the end I thought the sound was preferable without the attenuation and at the low preamp gain setting. I didn't pursue lower gain further as the 640C was switched to the ARC SP10/D115 (1987) system- and the SP10 has has a low and hi gain switch, I think selecting between 6 and 12dB gain in the line stage.

Some of those wishing to reduce gain on preamps have discussed placing resistors inline on one or more of a preamp's inputs, thus effectively lowering the V's of an enthusiastic source. You may try a search on AMPS/PRE forum on this topic.

The need to lower gain is not only when using modern digital sources either. A 1965 McIntosh MR67 tube tuner thoughtfully has it's own output gain control, but a 1989 Revox B160 solid state tuner does not, so I'd considered lowering the TUNER input gain as well as the input used for CD.


Cheers,

Bambi B

[ARC: SP8, SP10, LS3, D115, D130, McIntosh: MX110, MR67, MR77, MC240 ]



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